DAY CARE
A gift card to a nail salon where day care teachers and the classroom aides can get a manicure is a great idea. You figure that these teachers are using their hands all day long, either changing diapers or doing hands-on projects, and they could use the pampering. Best of all, you can usually buy this gift of a manicure for less than $20.

NURSERY OR PRESCHOOL
A gift card for a manicure will work here, too, as would a gift card to a local bookstore or a book from it–my favorite gift to give my daughters’ (long-ago) preschool teachers. If you want to give a book as a gift, check out places like Costco and BJs for great prices on books.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
I still love the notion of a gift card to a bookstore, but a gift card to the local coffee shop, whether it’s a chain like 7-11, Wawa, Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks, or the mom and pop java shop near to the school, would go over well, too. Also, you can get away with spending $5, maybe $10 for one of these. Another great idea? Board games for the classroom that can be used during indoor recess.

MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOLIn most instances parents feel that they get off the teacher-gift hook when their kids make the transition to middle school and high school. I’ll admit that I sometimes feel overwhelmed with buying gifts for seven or eight teachers. I know that the teachers here probably don’t expect gifts but if you can afford it, you should try to get them a little something–whether it’s a small tin filled with home-baked chocolate chip cookies or a heartfelt, handwritten note about how much the teacher means to you. Another idea? Make a donation to an education-related cause in the teachers’ names. For example, our school district has an education fund, or you could make the donation to the local public library.

Let me know if you have other, sure-fire teacher gifts suggestions.

Most mothers teach their kids to cook and clean. Leah Ingram’s mother taught her to compost. These days she’s passing along this green message to her own daughters as they all try to live a green and frugal lifestyle as The Lean Green Family. Visit her blog, Suddenly Frugal.

When my kids were young, I was Homeroom Mom a number of times. One year, the teacher and assistant approached me and told me that although they were appreciative, a gift certificate to a nail salon that had been given to them for their birthdays was not what they REALLY wanted. They explained that they were on a tight budget and needed things for their home. The parents chipped in that year, giving them gift cards to Home Depot. I still have the beautiful note I received from the assistant telling me that she had bought a beautiful new doorknob for her front door, and how it made her think of our whole class every night when she came from work. Another year, the teacher told me that she had saved for a long time to fly to visit her family. We again chipped in and got her a certificate to the local mall. She bought herself a brand new bathing suit for her “vacation” – something just for her…It’s great when parents get together and chip in a few dollars, with the homeroom parent asking the teachers what they might enjoy and facilitating a group gift. Most teachers don’t want another mug, picture frame, etc. And a personal note given with any gift (or alone) is ALWAYS appreciated. Each year, I wrote a note to each of my children’s teachers including something that my kids loved about them or their class, or something that I cherished about them. But I definitely recommend getting together as a group and giving a mall card (or other) so the teachers can buy something that they need – a new belt, scarf, coat, handbag – something that they can get when the group gathers a few dollars per family – that they would not get if everyone buys a $5 gift on their own…just a thought..

Our PTA has started a staff gift fund. Parents pay into it in honor of various teachers and the whole staff votes on what to use it for. I know that one of the annual expenditures is the water cooler in the lounge.